The present invention relates to an electronic musical instrument which can externally output a tone generation control signal corresponding to operation on a performance operator unit and can generate and output an audible sound on the basis of a sound signal supplied from an external apparatus, as well as a tone generator apparatus which can generate a sound signal corresponding to a sound generation control signal supplied from outside the apparatus and externally output the thus-generated sound signal. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system which comprises an electronic musical instrument and tone generator apparatus interconnect via a single bidirectional communication network and in which apparatus or equipment setting concerning signal input and output paths to and from a tone generator are automatically set so that both tone generation control signals and sound signals can be appropriately communicated between the electronic musical instrument and tone generator apparatus.
Heretofore, electronic musical instruments have been known which include a performance operator unit for generating a predetermined tone generation control signal (e.g., MIDI signal) in response to user operation on the performance operator unit and sound or audibly generate a tone, via a sounding unit including a speaker, in accordance with a predetermined sound signal (e.g., audio signal) generated via a built-in (internal) tone generator apparatus in response to operation on the performance operator unit. Such electronic musical instruments have the tone generator apparatus fixedly installed therein, and, in some models, the installed tone generator apparatus is of a considerably low grade (or low spec). With recent technologies, it has become possible for an interested user to connect a separate, external tone generator apparatus to an electronic musical instrument, via a communication cable, so that the user can readily replace a low-grade (low-spec) tone generator apparatus with a high-grade (high-spec) tone generator apparatus and extend the functions of a tone generator apparatus. For example, a high-grade tone generator capable of generating high-quality sound signals may be implemented by a personal computer or dedicated tone generator module and then connected to an electronic musical instrument which is provided with only a performance operator unit for generating a predetermined tone generation control signal in response to user's operation and a sounding unit for audibly generating a tone in accordance with a predetermined sound signal. Generally, because personal computers and dedicated tone generator modules have superior processing capability and greater storage capacity as compared to electronic musical instruments, it is very easy to implement a high-grade (high-spec) tone generator, capable of high-quality sound signals, by means of a personal computer or dedicated tone generator module. Therefore, the user can obtain an electronic musical instrument equipped with a high-grade tone generator at relatively low cost, by connecting such a personal computer or dedicated tone generator module (constituting an external tone generator apparatus). Example arrangements for connecting an electronic musical instrument and a personal computer are disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. 2001-356765.
In order to connected an electronic musical instrument and an external tone generator apparatus (i.e., personal computer, dedicated tone generator module or the like) in such a manner that various signals can be communicated (i.e., transmitted and received) between the two apparatus, communication cables corresponding to the types of the various signals to be communicated must be coupled to the respective communication interfaces of the musical instrument and tone generator apparatus per input and output. For example, a separate MIDI cable must be appropriately coupled to corresponding communication interfaces of the two apparatus in order to transmit a MIDI signal, i.e. a tone generation control signal, from the electronic musical instrument to the personal computer, and a separate RCA cable must be appropriately coupled to other corresponding communication interfaces of the two apparatus in order to transmit an audio signal, i.e. a sound signal, from the personal computer to the electronic musical instrument. Further, there are provided a plurality of input and output paths of signals to and from a tone generator section in the tone generator apparatus, and thus, unless the input and output paths of signals to and from the tone generator section are set properly, tone generation control signals received from the electronic musical instrument can not input to the tone generator section, and sound signals generated by the tone generator section can not be output to the electronic musical instrument. Heretofore, such apparatus (or equipment) setting has been performed manually by individual users. However, properly coupling a plurality of different communication cables, corresponding to various types of signals to be communicated, to the individual apparatus as noted above would involve complicated wiring operation, which tends to be very inconvenient. Also, because the users themselves have to perform the apparatus setting pertaining to the input and output paths of signals to and from the tone generator section each time it is necessary to do so, the apparatus setting tends to be very troublesome to the ordinary users and time-consuming, which would often make the users feel a great burden.